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December 13, 2007
Getting Power to the People
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Eleven days after storm, end is in sight
By Dee Anne Shaw and Tommi Halvorsen Gatlin
Eleven days after a hurricane-force storm pummeled Grays Harbor, leaving a disastrous tangle of downed trees and power lines and triggering record flooding, the PUD was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
On Tuesday, there were still 23 Grays Harbor PUD and other line crews working to restore electric power to about 100 residences scattered around the county, Liz Anderson, PUD spokeswoman, said.
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The Wynooche Valley was one of the hardest hit areas, and many were without power for nearly a week. In this photo taken last Thursday (four days after the storm) in the valley, one of several PUD crews works to set a new pole amidst debris hurriedly scraped off the road. They said they planned to work virtually around the clock until people had lights again. It’s a scene that became familiar to Harborites all over the county, day and night. (Photos by Dee Anne Shaw)
That compares to the near total darkness that blanketed the area for several days leaving 33,000 people without power. The widespread devastation prompted Gov. Christine Gregoire to declare an emergency and seek federal assistance.
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| Record floods on the Chehalis |
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On Monday this week, initial damage reports to the public infrastructure totaled nearly $15 million and climbing. That’s not counting personal property loss, which is already at about $4 million in claims – and counting.
With the filing of its first claim, Grays Harbor County has officially entered recovery mode. The 24-hour Grays Harbor Emergency Operations Center is starting to wind down; the National Guard is undeployed, and the Red Cross is closing more shelters than it opens.
Now comes setting up the official bureaucracy so Harborites can receive assistance to get back on their feet.
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 6, hours after the river crested, Keith McMaster of Porter surveys the receding river. He and his wife Dorothy, just visible, had never seen floodwaters this high.
President George W. Bush endorsed the governor’s declaration of emergency, which makes the county and its residents eligible for federal assistance. On Saturday, Gregoire, Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and Rep. Norm Dicks, flew over the area along with officers of the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They touched down at the Elma Fairgrounds to meet with local leaders and what began as a 15-minute briefing stretched to nearly an hour as various local leaders briefed them on the devastation and the recovery effort.
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| Spartans down Eagles in pinfest |
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By Jerrad Kellogg
Vidette Reporter
Final score was 51-30
ELMA – Coming off an unexpected week with no school due to foul weather, Elma was perhaps a bit rusty and was able to keep pace with Forks through 10 matches to a 30-30 team score. However, following an injury forfeit by the Eagles during the 160-pound bout, the Class 1A Spartans asserted themselves over the final three contests to escape the Elma High School Gymnasium with a 51-30 non-league wrestling match victory on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
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Elma freshman Brad Watson easily handles Forks’ Tyler Cortani during the second round of the 103-pound match that Watson took by pin-fall in 2:30. (Photo by Jerrad Kellogg)
All but three of the 13 contested matches were decided by pin-fall, making for a quick evening between two evenly matched squads.
“(Forks) is a well coached team,” Elma head coach Sean Ekerson said about the 1A team that went toe-to-toe with the make-shift young Eagle lineup.
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Other
Headlines
No festival? Caroling at Fleet Park helps ring in the Christmas spirit
Perhaps it was the Grinch who was behind last week’s horrendous storm that canceled the Montesano Festival of Lights for the first time since it began 21 years ago. If so, it didn’t work — 100 or so people took a hint from the residents of Whoville and celebrated the Christmas season anyway Saturday evening, gathering in Fleet Park to share some Christmas carols, hot chocolate and a warm Yule fire.
Ron Lofgren kept the fire going with pieces of last year’s Yule log. Patty Popowich and her daughter, Nicole Bossard, along with Diane Knowels are credited with getting the ball rolling.
Families, community say goodbye to Elma teens
Mourners filed in by the hundreds to join the families of Miles Zepp and Rodney Rowe Jr. at memorial services for the teens this past weekend at the Elma High School gymnasium. The 18-year-olds died Dec. 1 in a head-on collision with a truck pulling a loaded chip trailer on Highway 12 near Malone. The cause is still being investigated, the State Patrol said Monday. Members of the school’s class of 2007, some wearing their blue FFA jackets, sat together in a separate section of the bleachers at Zepp’s service Saturday afternoon, often wiping their eyes as they bid their classmate good-bye. They were back Sunday for Rowe’s service — it almost seemed they had never left.
Food Bowl teams join forces so the wild weather doesn’t win
For the second time in as many years, harsh winter weather has made its mark on the annual Food Bowl competition between Montesano’s and Elma’s high schools. Last year the weather delayed the beginning of collections, but later yielded way to a total of 123,876.5 pounds of food. This year, horrific winds early Monday morning, Dec. 3, prompted officials at each school to turn Food Bowl 2007 into a cooperative effort.
Two trapped in truck by falling trees are recovering
James Kingsbury, the tow truck manager at Whitney’s dealership in Montesano injured during the wind storm Dec. 3 when trees smashed onto the tow truck he was driving near town, remained in satisfactory condition Tuesday at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a hospital spokeswoman said. Kingsbury, 43, suffered two broken vertebrae, a broken left scapula (shoulder blade) and more minor injuries, said his mother, Leona King of Olympia. His passenger, Pernel Chapman, 56, parts manager at Whitney’s, was also seriously injured, with three broken ribs, a fractured sternum and bruised heart
More Sports
Klahowya outlasts Elma, 64-55
ELMA – After trailing Klahowya for nearly the entire game, Elma regained the lead at 55-54 with 2:36 left in the fourth quarter, but then entered into a cold snap from there on out – going scoreless over the final few minutes – and dropped the non-league boys basketball contest, 64-55, on Friday, Dec. 7, at Elma’s High School Gymnasium.
Elma’s Watson nabs title at Blaine tourney
BLAINE — Elma finished third in the team standings at the ‘Battle at the Border Wrestling Tournament’, thanks in large part to Nick Watson, who won the 171-pound title last Saturday at Blaine. The Eagles amassed 133.5 points, which fell just short of runner-up Selah at 137, and tournament champion Class 4A Kentwood at 253.
Elma runner competes at national meet
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Elma freshman Todd Jackson recently took part in the 2007 National Junior Olympics for Cross Country meet in Lawrence, Kan. Jackson finished 92nd out of 230 runner to finish the race, which means he placed in the top 40-percent of intermediate boys in the United States. Prior to the Kansas meet, Jackson had to make it through two qualifying meets in Seattle and Portland, in which only the top-30 and top-20 advanced respectively. Jackson was the only Grays Harbor runner to attend the meet.
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2007
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